11.02.10

There’s a time and place for Randy Moss’ frank remarks. For instance, the Zagat Guide. To buy into one increasingly popular story out of Minnesota this afternoon, WR Moss was booted from the Vikings squad not so much for making his head coach look like a chump, but rather, for dissing the meal prepared by Gus Tinucci of Tinucci’s Restaurant, caterer for last Friday’s practice. From the Star-Tribune’s Chip Scoggins :

“[Moss] came walking up,” Tinucci said. “There were a couple of guys that were in line. I knew Brett [Favre] put his helmet down. I met him carving. I was carving some meat for a guy and all of a sudden I heard all this screaming and I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I knew who it was immediately. I looked up and there he was. [Moss said], ‘I wouldn’t feed this [expletive] to my [expletive] dog.’ I was in shock. I couldn’t believe it. It was quiet in there.”

Tinucci said one player told Moss to shut up. He also said two Vikings employees approached him and apologized.

“We just went about our business,” he said. “I had more compliments. The guys that were there and heard it and saw it, I think they were very appreciative of us being there. I wasn’t going to say anything because we appreciate being there. We want to come back there. What am I going to do, call him out? Go, ‘Hey, if you don’t like it, get the hell out or whatever?’ I’m in their house.”

Tinucci said his buffet included ribs, chicken, a round of beef carving station, pasta, vegetables and dessert.

This right here, is not just the worst move in the history of the Grizzlies, but it is the shining golden cap on the mountain of terrible moves made by NBA owners over the past 2 years. It is this, exact move, that nullifies any argument the owners can possibly make that they spend their money responsibly inside the current CBA. It is this contract that overshadows Joe Johnson’s contract, Amir Johnson’s contract, Darko Milicic’s contract as the single worst contract handed out in 2010.

Mike Conley is the worst starting point guard in the NBA. That’s including Derek Fisher, who is at this point a defensive signpost, is a superior point guard. People often wonder why it is I consider this to be so. The reasons are numerous. It’s not that Mike Conley is not a good basketball player. He is. He’s a career 44% shooter, and 38% from the arc, which isn’t bad at all. As a spot-up back-up combo guard, he wouldn’t be bad at all. Mike Conley is not a bad NBA player. But there are three things this contract supposes that he is not. He is not a starting caliber point guard. He is not worth $45 million dollars over 5 years. And he is not worth the long-term damage this contract does to the Memphis Grizzlies franchise.

What you’re looking at with this extension is the rare combination of a move that’s bad in and of itself, and mortgages your ability to win later by most likely expending two of your three best players. You now have $120 million committed to Rudy Gay and Mike Conley over the next six years. That’s bad enough, but you’ll most likely be losing better players in order to form around that core. It damages you in the short term. This is a player who you have tried to improve upon with Jamal Tinsley, moving O.J. Mayo to point, Greivis Vasquez, Allen Iverson, and I’m pretty sure a clone of John Stockton. But this is the player you have chosen to give $40 million-plus to.

As I tweeted yesterday, between the Albert Haynesworth & Donovan McNabb, situations Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan has proven he’s more concerned with America’s fitness than Michelle Obama and Richard Simmons combined. Clearly, the cardiovascular endurance of an accomplished veteran like McNabb must have been of grave concern to Shanahan during the final minutes against Detroit Sunday, otherwise what other possible reason could you give for putting the ball in Rex (Fucking) Grossman’s hands with the game on the line? The above video comes courtesy of DC Sports Bog‘s Dan Steinberg.

Mr. Sullivan™s chillingly predictive ˜tweets™ convey his vivid awareness and concern regarding the perils in place at the time of the incident. One friend of mine from the legal community suggested that Mr. Sullivan™s share of the blame is considerable given that he was aware of the dangers at hand yet willingly continued to do his job despite having the right to seek shelter.

But just as you could conclude that it would have been reasonable for Mr. Sullivan to voluntarily seek shelter in light of his concerns, you could also argue that it would have been similarly reasonable for any one of the numerous on-site adults (e.g. coaches, administrators, facility staff) to approach Mr. Sullivan and mandate that he cease his elevated videography services due to inclimate weather for safety™s sake.

The reality is that most 20-year old employees of major Division I college football programs work in awe or fear (or both) of their coaching staffs and/or student-athlete peers. They are simply dedicated workers who show their school spirit by taking great pride in their job. As such, they are not likely to voluntarily ™sit one out™ unless approached by an adult who supposedly has a better grasp on the ˜big picture™ and who can play a nurturing and protective parental role when faced with adversity or unfamiliar circumstances.

Unless we find out that Mr. Sullivan either (a) did not have permission to be on the lift or (b) ignored someone™s urging to descend from the lift, then the athletics department staff will shoulder between 80-100% of the blame for this incident. Especially when you consider that Notre Dame held an indoor practice the day before Mr. Sullivan™s death in part because of excessive winds, yet the next day in highly similar conditions the team held practice outdoors without preventing Mr. Sullivan from taking his place in the filming tower.

Rishe estimates that if Kelly and/or Jack Swarbick are found culpable, Notre Dame could be on the hook for somewhere in the range of $30 million compensatory damages. It’s fun to imagine Kelly being forced to resume his career as an educator by working for free, but it’s not clear that would be such a great deal for the university.

Less than a day after the above oration — in which Moss expressed admiration for everyone from the Hooded Casanova to Robert Kraft to Deion Branch to the snow-shoveling schmoes in the DirecTV Sunday Ticket commericials — Randy Moss was waived by the Minnesota Vikings. Did Brad Childress resent Moss calling Bill Belichick “the greatest coach in NFL history” and take umbrage at his recently acquired WR suggesting it was his role to “sprinkle knowledge” learned at Belichick’s knee to his new purple teammates? Of course not, that’s absolutely childish. I prefer to believe Childress sent Moss packing because Minnesota’s head coach will not abide his players disrespecting the media.

I also believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and believe Darren Daulton would make an excellent Tea Party candidate for public office in the not so distant future.

“Whatever happened to the good old days, when hand signals actually stood for something meaningful?” asks CBS Sports’ Ben Golliver of the Miami Heat’s new practice of pinching their fingertips on the sideline (“I carefully investigated this chart and determined that they are not making the American Sign Language sign for any of the 26 letters in the alphabet”). Denouncing Golliver as “a douche”, the erudite Rizzmiggizz of Miami Heat Nation replies, “I don’t even care what it means, I just think it’s HILARIOUS”

its OBVIOUSLY a middle finger to the haters – and it pisses them off THEY CAN’T PROVE IT!!!! It’s been sworn to such secrecy, that even the recently cut Patrick Beverly, refuses to talk. Seriously, people have killed, and cracked faster than these dudes. Whatever it means, it’s as funny to the Heat, as it is frustrating to the haters – and that makes it GENIUS.